WOOT! finally finished chapter one x3 shoulda been working on this for awhile, but w/e nothing to do about it now. At least it's done. So here it is, the finished first chapter of my book.

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Angel Starly climbed onto the bus with a heavy heart. Everyday was torture for her, and she wished she never had to go to school. No body understood her, and she was fine with that, but the torment they came up with to compensate with their misunderstanding she could do without. The other students were still laughing at her even as she got on the bus. Today’s humiliation seemed far more hilarious to the other students than every other day of her life. For her it was pure agony. She sat down next to the window in the front row. She heard the soft whir of the engine and the bus took off, driving out of the parking lot.
Angel stared out the window, lost in thought. Of course no one understood her, she wasn’t like any of them. She didn’t like math, science, or business. Engineering just seemed to be a waste of time, medicine was beyond her abilities. Serving, fighting crime, flying, fire fighting, everything just seemed boring to her. Nothing seemed to suit her. No, there was only one thing that she loved more than anything, one thing that her talents fit best, one thing… Unfortunately, that “one thing” was the only field that had declined and become a profitless job. Said field was, art. And not just drawings and paintings. No, every statue, every building, every plot of land, everything, she considered it all art. And Angel was in love with art.
It didn’t matter what anyone did, she would always love art, and she would always see things differently than every one else. Or at least for the time being. Someday, Angel hoped, art would be revived. Someday people would begin to have respect for art as they all once did. Someday everyone would see art the way she did. Someday…
This was her dream. She not only wanted to become an artist, she wanted everyone else to love art as much as she did. And she would show them how great art was. She would show them all why she loved art so much. Someday she would be the one to revive art. She would gain back the lost respect for art. She would revolutionize the world with new understanding of art. Someday, she promised, she would. Someday…
But when was ‘someday’? When would ‘someday’ come? When would everyone understand? Angel sighed. Of course, she could never know. In fact, it might never happen. This all seemed just a far off dream of hers. And seeing as she was the only one who cared about art, she doubted she would be able to make a difference. Maybe Art would just remain dead forever…
Angel stared out the window of the bus. She stared at the passing cars, the houses. Her eyes took in every detail of the scenes. The lawns were empty. No decorations lay. No Children played outside. In fact, many of the lawns were nothing but pathetic patches of grass. No one cared about how their lawns looked. No one cared what happened. It was all just a meaningless ritual to them, to care for their lawns when they just stayed inside all the time anyway. Angel continued to stare at these pathetic, empty houses. This land seemingly devoid of life. It was hard to believe anyone lived in them at this point.
But as Angel stared, she saw a door open slowly. A single child came out. He stepped onto the lawn, and a dog ran out behind him. Suddenly, the children of the other houses began to spill from the doors, and pets and stray animals could be seen running around with them. Angel heard them laughing, and the sound of barking and meowing could be heard. The children ran around and played, being tailed by playful little animals.
Angel opened the window and stuck her head out. She smiled and laughed as the breeze blew her hair around her face. She breathed deep the fresh air. The children stopped only to wave at the bus, and she waved back, smiling. She opened the window as far as she could, and almost as if on cue, the bus slowed as she jumped out the window. She landed lightly on the pavement, and began running in the opposite direction. The bus then drove off, and slowly disappeared with distance as she ran the other way. She laughed, running as fast as she could, feeling the wind against her face.
Angel ran for what seemed like hours before she finally slowed to a walk. She wasn’t even out of breath, and she felt as light as a feather. She was just brimming with joy and ecstasy. She looked around to find that she was in a thick forest. She walked slowly through it, smiling and listening to the sound of birds in the background. After a while she came to the edge of the forest. She looked about and gasped with amazement. She entered a large field, blooming with flowers from end to end. In the exact center was a lake of water. The water was crystal clear, and she could see the fish swimming about in it. The crystal clear water was very inviting and, without a second thought, Angel began running full-speed toward it.
Several animals emerged from the forest and joined her in her quick run. The feeling from the running itself made her just grin from ear to ear. She let out a loud, joyful laugh as she ran toward the lake. Every step brought her a little nearer to it, and gave her even more joy. She laughed more, and all the animals around her made sounds as though they were laughing with her. She ran to the edge of the lake, laughing all the way, and when she reached it she took a giant leap, straight up in the air then straight down, and went head first into the lake.
Everything seemed to fade and disappear when she hit the cool waters, gliding straight down. She laughed out loud, and several bubbles came out of her mouth, yet she felt like she still had breath. She dove further down, faster, faster, straight down. Soon it felt less like she was swimming and more like she was falling. As though the lake was but thin air. Angel’s joy suddenly melted away into fear. Panic. She flailed her arms, trying to go back up, but they wouldn’t move and she fell further down. Down, down, down she fell, panic filling her body. She wanted to go up, but she only fell further down, head first. Finally, she could see the ground, coming up toward her. She closed her eyes, awaiting the impact. She let out a short cry as her head hit the ground, and everything shattered and disappeared.
Angel started. She looked around, dazed. She could hear laughter and chatter around her. The small window revealed the empty houses passing by. The yellow bus was coming close to her bus stop. Angel looked down to see a piece of crumpled up paper that someone had thrown at her. She picked it up and straightened it out. The words ‘FREAK’ had been written in large black letters. She sighed and crumpled it up again and threw it on the floor. She sadly leaned on the window, staring out, as the bus came to a stop. The other students rushed out of the bus excitedly, laughing and talking over the stomping of feet. Angel waited for them all to leave, then got out herself, and the door closed behind her.
She headed home as the bus drove off behind her. Her head was in a fog as she thought about that daydream. It had felt strangely real, as though she was actually there. She kept recalling the feeling of the lake as she’d fallen down into blackness. Her mind was so lost that she didn’t notice the threshold and she tripped over it as she opened the door. The fall made a loud thudding sound. Angel could hear steps coming from the other room. Her mother came to the door, holding a spoon in her hand. Clearly she had just been cooking.
“Angel! Are you alright?” She asked, staring at her. Angel didn’t move. She just laid on the floor, still lost in thought. Her mother sighed and came toward her.
“Honestly! You’re so clumsy sometimes.” She said, helping Angel to her feet. Angel said nothing and silently went up to her room. Her mother watched her go, quietly. She looked at her daughter sadly. She knew how much trouble Angel had at school, with all the other students. She felt very sorry for her, and wished she could do something for her, but she couldn’t. She knew her daughter’s torment was caused by her talents and passions, and that she could do nothing about. It didn’t matter what she did, Angel would always have to face the bullying of other children, and as she grew, even of the adults. Angel’s interests would always remain the way they were, which was only a sad reality. She wanted Angel to have a good future, but because the field Angel loved was dead, she wouldn’t be able to get that future.
Angel could hear her mother walking into the kitchen. The way her footsteps sounded seemed to be quite sad. Or at least, that’s how Angel perceived them to be. But then, her mother always walked the same, why did these little things translate as sadness to Angel? She didn’t know, but she always felt that her mother was sad. Angel shook her head and flopped backward onto her bed. Why did she even care? No body could ever figure that out. She always felt strangely sympathetic toward everyone. Even the students who tormented her every day, she just felt sorry for them. Was it their lack of wisdom to the art world? Or maybe she just saw something sad and pained in them all. Or were those just her own feelings that she saw?
Angel sighed. She saw herself as rather pathetic. She couldn’t do anything for herself; she was always getting beaten up and teased. She was somewhat disconnected from her family, despite all her attempts. She couldn’t figure out the reasons for that either. They all acted so loving toward each other, and yet their relationship seemed empty. Maybe it was her fault. It was always her fault after all. How could they understand? They didn’t have the same passion as she did. Maybe they were just a closer version of the students at school.
She sighed again. Angel felt so down today. Normally she could look at things with a positive attitude, hoping that she would be able to revive the art field. However, today she just felt like the hope she had was gone. Maybe it was all the extra bullying the other students gave her. Or maybe it was that day dream. She began thinking about it again. /The dream…/ It had felt so real, and filled her with such emotion! She had loved it so much, it had made her so happy. She barely thought about the fall in the lake, but more about the joyful run she had made. She giggled at the thought of it. But at the thought of the end, in the lake, her mood was brought back down.
/I should stop thinking about that./ She thought, and stood up. She decided to take a nice walk, in the hopes of walking off today’s pains. Her mother only sat quietly and watched as she walked out the front door with her bag of art supplies. She sighed, knowing full well what was wrong with her daughter. Knowing it only made her more depressed though. She looked down at the papers she had found. It was a document with signatures on it. Her signatures. Sometimes she wondered if signing those had really been the best thing she had done. At the very top of the page it read, “Orphanage for the abandoned and runaways.” Underneath that was Angel’s name. She had been abandoned after she’d been born, and her parents never returned. Mrs. Starly doubted she even remembered living there. She stood up and put the papers back. /Oh well… it’s not like it matters anymore./
Angel walked quietly through the neighborhood toward the forest. She loved the forest. It seemed the only piece of natural art left, not destroyed by men. It was a peaceful, quiet place, where she could do anything she wanted without fear. She found it a good place just to relax and think a little, especially on days like these.
Angel walked deep into the forest to an old clearing. There was a small setup of her art supplies, and a wooden canopy to protect it all from the rain; her own little art studio. She’d come here so many times, it was like a second home to her. A much more peaceful home.
She sat down in the grass, pulling a sketchbook out of her bag. She took out a pencil, and placed the tip of it on the paper. She then closed her eyes, thinking about what to draw. After a moment’s thought, she opened her eyes again, and quickly began to sketch. She held her hand steady, creating perfectly smooth lines. Soon enough, an image began to appear. It was a man, a strange device covered his eye, and he had a stern look about him. His entire appearance was rather frightening. His uncovered eye glared at her from the paper. He was rather muscular, a fact that was easy to tell for his skin-tight clothing. From his back protruded sturdy spikes, something he was unable to rid himself of. He wore a ragged scarf, deep red in color. /It wasn’t always red…/ Angel thought to herself as she drew.
She now had a perfect image of him in her mind. She could see every single detail, all of which she drew onto the paper. Every muscle, the texture of the fabric he was wearing, the heaviness of the boots he was wearing. She could even see the muscles in his jaw, which was slim enough to see. Nothing about him was at all weak. His personality very clearly showed in his appearance. /He is an angry person…/ She thought. /I wonder why… Maybe he was tormented as a child. Hmm…/ She stopped drawing and looked down at the picture. It was still unfinished, but her image of him was expressed clearly. She leaned back, closing her eyes.
“He needs a name…” She silently thought for several moments. Suddenly, it came to her. “Raetra!”

My youth pastor suggested it to me. Let me tell you, I feel like God's been working in every way to inspire me and help me better myself spiritually. And this book seems to be one of those ways ^^ Praise the Lord, I can smile and sing and dance again!

Coming this August(I think) I will officially be a part of my church's youth Leadership Team. This is amazing O: I don't know whether I'm nervous or excited. I wonder what made the youth pastor think I was good enough for this?

Seriously, you know you're a nerd when you're looking up Star Treck clips.